FASHION DISCOURSE AND POWER IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY IN LAUREN WEISBERGER’S THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA: A GENEALOGY ANALYSIS

Abstract

The novel entitled The Devil Wears Prada is written by Lauren Weisberger, tells about the importance of Runway fashion magazine in America. The thesis focuses on fashion discourse and power in the novel and in the context of American society. There are some resistance events in the novel that is practiced by Andrea toward Miranda’s fashion rules at Runway. Andrea does not agree with Miranda’s rules of fashion that cause Runway employees suffer of it. In fact, Runway employees still follow and obey to Miranda’s rules of fashion except Andrea. She does not want to be Miranda’s fashion follower. Andrea has her own fashion style that differs from Miranda. She brings American fashion style against Miranda’s European fashion style. The research discusses about the construction of the fashion discourse in the novel, second, the exercise of power in the novel. The last, the relation between fashion discourse and its power operation in the novel and fashion discourse in the context of American society. In order to get that point above, I use Foucault’s discourse theory by applying genealogy analysis. Then, I also use the concept of Foucault’s power and knowledge as the supporting factors in this research. This thesis is a qualitative research because it uses textual forms. Descriptive method is used to analyze the data of this thesis. The descriptive method is that the data are collected, classified, and analyzed. The primary data are collected from The Devil Wears Prada. In discussing fashion discourse and power through genealogy analysis, what I use for most is Untying The Text: The Order Of Discourse. This is because Foucault’s genealogy analysis relates to discourse, power and knowledge. Therefore, secondary sources are some books; The Will To Knowledge: The History of Sexuality Volume 1, Power/Knowledge by Michel Foucault, Foucault and Literature and Nietzsche, Genealogy, History. I also take the information from journals, articles, and anything that relate to the context of American fashion discourse to help and support the genealogy analysis. The result of the research shows that Andrea’s fashion discourse is able to blur a regime of truth of Miranda’s fashion discourse. This is because American fashion discourse is linked to Andrea’s fashion discourse. American fashion discourse and Andrea’s fashion discourse are supported each other and against Miranda’s fashion discourse. Andrea’s fashion discourse represents American fashion discourse against the size zero of Miranda’s European fashion style. In the context of American fashion, Andrea’s fashion discourse is a healthy fashion than Miranda’s fashion discourse. That is why the size zero that is applied in Miranda’s European fashion have had discontinued. American fashion supports Andrea’s fashion discourse that brings a healthy size 14 through the American casualness style. Thus, Andrea’s fashion discourse represents American fashion discourse through positive ways.